Friday, December 12, 2008

NEW YORK, New York -- Running counter to the propaganda line that US automakers need government money not because of the global economic crisis that is plunging car sales but because they are not viable businesses and deserve to be taken over by foreign competitors, the NY Times reports today that European and Asian companies are increasingly seeking bailouts.

Only where the US plan recently punted by the Senate would have provided a $14 billion loan, the European companies are looking for nearly $55 billion.

And, as Dennis DesRosiers, an auto analyst, said:

"“It’s a foregone conclusion that governments around the world are going to aid these companies. It’s just a matter of working through the politics.”

Note to Republican Senators: If the US automakers don't get guaranteed loans soon, they won't necessarily be taken over by "better" companies, but by ones whose governments realize the importance of not letting a huge industry collapse on the rocks.

1 comment:

What's stunning is Shelby's complete failure to show any sort of alternative plan forward. He's basically secure in his seat, and faces potentially little repurcussion if he manages to help destroy the short term economy. In fact, it probably helps his party by making Obama's job even harder.

It reminds me that so few of our massive country's elected officials are actually responsible to the country's voters as a whole. You have the President, but not much else. Congress is responsible to their states and districts, the executive branch other than the Pres is essentially formed of appointment positions only, and the Supreme Court is a for-life appointed position. No surprise that parochialism all too often gets in the way. Hell, even the President spends most of his election capital on a handful of states, thanks to our archaic electoral format. Go America!

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As a couple of former reporters who worked and lived in Russia, we created this blog in response to a worrying lack of expertise and critical analysis in the reporting on Russia by the English-language press. That is why we named the blog after Walter Duranty, a New York Times reporter posted in the Soviet Union during the 1930's. He wrote glowing reports about Stalin's show trials and the disastrous collectivization drives. Somehow, these fabrications won him a Pulitzer Prize. So we try to provide our own expertise and opinions about Russia to make sure another Duranty doesn't slip through the cracks. Russia can be a disheartening place, so more often than not, you will find we divert from our original purpose to take up other subjects and causes that are of interest to us - we hope they are of interest to you, too.